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Michigan shooter says 'mind controlling' Uber app told him to kill

Ride-sharing has been blamed for a lot of things, but this is a first

The man accused of killing six people during a shooting rampage in Michigan last month says an "artificial intelligence" controlled by the Uber mobile app was to blame.

45-year-old loon Jason Dalton stands accused of committing a series of murders in the city of Kalamazoo on the night of February 20th, accepting ride fares through Uber in-between the shootings and prior to his arrest. Passengers had reported Dalton behaving and driving erratically during the various trips.

According to police documents obtained by local news station WDIV, shortly after his arrest Dalton told police that the rampage was triggered by the Uber mobile app, which acted "like artificial intelligence that can tap into your body."

Dalton went on to describe how he believed the Uber app within his iPhone was able to control him at various points in the evening, including when the app controlled him "like a puppet" by changing a symbol on the phone's screen from "black to red." He goes on to tell police that he only vaguely remembers the shootings and that he never attempted to aim his gun during the rampage.

Dalton told police that he had only been driving for Uber for a short time, signing on with the dial-a-ride service to earn extra money. He claims that the "mind control" activity of the app began as soon as he downloaded the software.

"Dalton said that the thing that is scary to him right now is that Dalton isn't sure how much he had or hadn't done," the police report said.

"Dalton said that is the reason Dalton had us call his wife so he could hear her voice."

In happier news, the station reports that the youngest of Dalton's victims, 14-year-old Abigail Kopf, has made a remarkable recovery from her wounds. Kopf, who was among those wounded outside a Cracker Barrel restaurant, was feared brain-dead by doctors prior to recovering and regaining consciousness. ®

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